Casali was born in Walnut Creek, California, and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut. He received his high school diploma from New Canaan High School.
He excelled in baseball (batting.427 for the team), basketball, and football, where he led his team to a state championship.
Casali was named first-team All-State in both football and baseball, and he was the second-best prospect from Connecticut/Rhode Island in the June 2007 baseball draft.
Casali attended Vanderbilt University, where he played baseball. During his four years at Vanderbilt, he had a.316 batting average, .430 on-base percentage, .502 slugging percentage, 27 home runs, and 167 runs batted in (RBIs).
Casali was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round (317th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed on July 1, 2011, for a $40,000 signing bonus.
According to Baseball America, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009 while still in college, which diminished his formerly excellent arm power, but he was still a competent defensive catcher with a good approach at the plate.
That season, he made his professional debut with the New York-Pennsylvania League’s short-season Class A-Connecticut Tigers, batting.278/.409/.417 with one home run and two RBIs in 26 at-bats.
He subsequently played for the Midwest League’s Class A West Michigan Whitecaps, batting.227/.344/.400 with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 75 at-bats. He had a poor strikeout percentage of 10.3 percent between the two teams.
How Old Is Curt Casali?
Curt is 33 years old at the moment.